Return of the Viper
by Memnon45
Summary: My name is Nathair, I am a Witcher trained by Letho of Gulet last member of the Viper School and one of the King Slayers. When my family was killed in front of me, he took me in, taught me how to hunt and kill monsters. Now I walk The Path set out before me and who knew along this path I would meet an interesting woman.


**Hey everyone Memnon45 here with another story for you. This time a Witcher 3: Wild Hunt story. I hope you enjoy and here we go.**

Prologue: Birth of the Black Mamba

Velen also known as No Man's Land former province of Temeria. Named No Man's Land because of the harsh terrain and the fact that that the land is lawless. It got so bad that it's hard to differentiate between the monsters and the bandits that roam the land preying on the travelers and merchants. Most of the villages were in ruins, monsters roamed unchecked, the baron's men were even worse then the bandits. The perfect place for a Witcher to hide with plenty of work to live off of.

Letho of Gulet last surviving member of the School of the Viper. One of three conspirators behind the assassination of Foltiest. Letho is a mountain of a man with bulging muscles, a very intimidating man covered in scars like all witchers but the most prominent scar he had was on top of his bald head that looks like a v. On his back is the usual steel and silver swords of a Witcher, but across his stomach is two knives crossed over his chest.

Letho is the one that carried out the assassination of Foltiest along with his co conspirators of the Viper school and framed the famous Witcher Geralt of Rivea for the crime. When Letho was at the mercy of Geralt he was let go surprisingly.

Letho immediately disappeared while being hunted by the emperor of the now named Nilfgaard for the assassination of the kings that ruled Temeria. Emperor Emyre Var Emreis offered to rebuild the Viper school if he killed the rulers of Temeria, but being the back stabbing whoreson he is, he turned on Letho because he knew to much.

Letho has been on the run ever since, never staying to long in a place and always quick to move on. Moving from contract to contract and leaving the first chance he got. Now in Velen on a long dirt road the Witcher set out to find a new place to hide.

"Hm gonna be getting dark soon, better set up camp the first chance I get." Letho thought to hisself, but before he could do that his horse became skittish, Letho reined in the beast and used his Witcher sense to see that there is a commotion coming from the direction further down the road he was currently on.

He sniffed the air and recoiled in disgust, the smell of rotting meat and the snarls of a monster a ghoul to be specific. Letho urged his horse on and raced down the path he was on, he came around a bend and saw the monsters about eight of them. It was three travelers one man, a woman and a child. The standard attack pattern of a ghoul is to knock down there prey and then along with the others start to feast on the immobilized victim.

Which was happening right now as the mans screams caused the woman to cry out as she held her child behind her. Letho stepped in immediately and with his tremendous strength cleaved one ghoul in two with his silver sword, the ghouls immediately turned there attention to the current threat and circled him looking for an opening to exploit. But one ghoul probably a young one attacked Letho and with a speed and grace in defiance of his bulky frame he sliced the ghoul out of the air killing it before its body hit the ground.

With his back turned a few of the ghouls attacked but again with a grace that defied his form he made a quick gesture with his hand and fire shot out scorching the ghouls and causing them to roll on the ground to put the biting flames out. One ghoul succumbed to the biting flames and it laid still its rotting flesh permeating the air with its foul stench. The remaining ghouls managed to put out the flames. Letho now staring at the remaining ghouls made another gesture and his body flashed a golden color before disappearing. He then made another gesture and then one ghoul attacked another rolling in the dirt as the bit and clawed one another staining the ground with there blood.

Now Letho can focus on the remaining three ghouls, one jumped to him and he took out one of the knives and threw it with amazing accuracy into the ghouls head dropping it to the ground. The remaining two attacked at once, one going for a slash which Letho dodged and he came around to slice the other ghouls leg dropping it to the ground and he finished it by decapitation. The remaining ghoul charges Letho and with a quick flick of his wrist threw a round object at the ghoul that exploded on impact making a messy cloud of gore.

Letho looked behind him at the remaining ghouls to see one was dead, he used his senses to find the other one, he then heard a cry and saw the woman go down claw marks across her back as the ghoul tried to go for her child, her body hit the ground unmoving as the ghoul proceeded to feast on her, but the child picked up a sharp rock and stabbed the ghoul in the eye with it, but was knocked aside with a backhand the ghoul ignored its meal to deal with the child.

It slashed at the child and the boy cried out as the claw sliced across his eye fresh blood leaking from the wound, with tears coming down his face he backpedaled until his back hit a fallen log. The ghoul about to go in for the kill, was stopped by Letho and decapitated its body slumping to the ground soon after.

All was quiet now, the silence broken by the sniffles of the child as he crawled to his mother and slumped on her body as he cried over her corpse, now that Letho got a good look at the child he looked to be about eleven to twelve years old, his skin was lighter then a Nilfgardians but darker then Letho, looking at his mother she was darker then her child and looking at what was left of her man he is obviously of Temerian descent. His hair was shoulder length and brown and emerald green eyes that surprised Letho. Letho cleaned his sword not knowing how to comfort the child, so he went with what came naturally.

"Sorry I couldn't save your mother kid but she is better off. This world isn't a great place to be in." Letho said not believing a word of it since he isn't a very religious person. The boy looked up at the Witcher tears and blood coming down his face.

Letho seeing the blood beckoned the child over and proceeded to clean the wound on his face, the child was tough since he only made slight sounds of discomfort but otherwise didn't complain about the pain of his wound.

"Have any family around here kid?" Letho asked the child, the child shook his head no and gestured to the bodies of the man and woman.

"My mother and father are my only family." The child said in a subdued tone of voice still sad and in shock of his parents being dead. Letho was thinking of dropping the kid off at one of the villages in Velen but decided against it since he is most likely gonna be turned away from every home.

Times are rough especially on those that have families and can barely support them. So as Letho thought of what to do with the child he came up with an idea.

"Hey Kid how about you come with me it's a rough road and I could use the company." Letho said to the child, the child looked up with a surprised look on his face and nodded his head. Letho whistled for his horse and as soon as the beast came Letho got on the saddle and pulled the child up in front of him.

Hours later they set up camp, Letho went hunting and managed to catch a doe on the planes and fashioned a stew from the surrounding land to go with the meat. It was quiet for the moment as Letho said nothing to the child for awhile and left him alone to his thoughts.

"How did you learn to fight like that?" The child asked Letho, the Witcher looked up at the child before answering.

"Far from here, I'm a Witcher from the school of the viper and we train to made into professional monster hunters." Letho said the child, Letho then continued to explain and talk about the other schools and different methods of training, then the mutations and how very few promising Witchers survive the procedure.

But those that do are forever changed, they are faster, stronger and more resilient to pain then the average normal man. The child got a determined look on his face and stood up, Letho looked at the child and said nothing.

"Train me to be like you, train me to be a Witcher." The child said a look of determination still on his young face. Letho stared at the child thinking over the child's request, knowing that he is the last living Witcher of the Viper school.

"Maybe it would be good to take this kid under my wing I know the White Wolf did the same thing with a little girl named Ciri years back." Letho thought to hisself as the child waited for the mans decision.

"All right kid I'll train you, but know this I will show you the same mercy my teachers gave me, none." Letho said as the fire light made his eyes look even more menacing. The kid still had that look of determination on his face.

"I'm not afraid" The child said to the Witcher who simply gave a grunt and a smirk.

"You will be kid, you will be, we will begin early tomorrow be ready." Letho said to him, conversation stopped after that before the kid piped up again.

"Hey mister, whats your name, if I'm gonna learn from you I can't keep calling you mister?" The child asked the Witcher who would soon be his teacher. Letho looked at the kid before sighing and responding.

"Letho of Gulet, but starting tomorrow you will call me master. I also figure I can't keep calling you kid so whats your name kid." Letho said with a smirk as the child glared at him through the flames of the fire.

"Nathair, my name is Nathair it means snake." The now name Nathair said to the Witcher who smiled.

"A perfect name for a Witcher of the Viper school" Letho thought to hisself. Letho knew the next few years are not only going to be tough but interesting as well. Wonder if the kid will survive even one year of the training.

**Ten Years Later**

Ten years have passed since the day that Letho saved Nathair from Ghouls that killed his family, ten years since he decided to train the young child as a Witcher and if Letho said so hisself he is proud of his little student.

Well not so little anymore since he was now taller then Letho but not as muscular his brown shoulder length hair went past his shoulders and down to the scruff of his neck since t got so long Nathair kept it in a ponytail at all times. The now twenty two year old Nathair learned everything Letho had to teach him, from sword play, to bomb making, oil crafting he even taught him how to make potions on a whim knowing that he wouldn't be able to use them since Witcher potions were never meant to be ingested by regular humans.

Letho did teach Nathair the different signs and Letho soon learned that Apophis had a talent for magic so learning the signs came easier to Nathair, it was interesting and funny to Letho at least when Nathair cast Igni for the first he singed his own eyebrows, Nathair payed him back for the laugh by casting Igni a second time and lighting the back of Letho's pants on fire. Next came the different monsters in the world, there were many but Apophis learned about all of them in time from there strengths to there weaknesses.

Now Nathair was in the Reardon Manor a place that Letho discovered that was out of the way but big enough for the two and there her horses. The surrounding area was used as a training ground for Nathair for ten years and he came to see the place as home.

Nathair was currently going through the training exercises that were taught to him knowing that these moves would determine whether he survives in this cruel world or not.

"I wonder where master Letho has gotten off to, he knows he should lay low instead of going out where bounty hunters can track him easily." Nathair thought to hisself as he continued his exercises before hearing the sound of a horse coming down the trail.

He looked up to see it was Letho with a package and two long bundles in hand. Letho reined in his horse and got off with the items in hand, he strolled up to his student and looked him over. Before smiling and resting his meaty hand on his shoulder.

"Ten years since I found you kid and you grew into a fine warrior." Letho said with a smile which is rare coming from the Witcher.

"I had a great teacher even though he was a little strict." said Nathair as he smirked at his teacher, Letho gently punched his shoulder making both of them laugh. The laughter died down as the two regarded one another, the past ten years were rough at times but they made it through.

"Your training has been completed but I figured I can't turn you loose into the wild without any equipment, so for the past couple of months I took a risk and traveled to Novigrad to have a few things forged, I trust you will like the results." Letho said as he handed the bundles to Nathair.

Nathair then unwound the cloth on one of the bundles and found black and brown armor with boots, pants and gloves made from the same material, the armor had a scale like pattern almost like a viper, even thought the armor itself was of medium heft it felt like it weighed nothing. Nathair then looked to the other bundle and unwound the string tying it together. In this bundle were two swords, a Witcher's swords, one made out of steel for mundane and regular people and the other made out of silver for monsters. The pommels were designed in the form of a serpent the symbol for the school of the Viper.

Nathair looked up at Letho to see the big Witcher had his back turned and was rubbing his face. Nathair then smirked knowing the Witcher was trying hard not to cry.

"Well try them on to see if they fit you, I would hate to have wasted money and resources on armor that didn't fit you." Letho said with his back still turned to his former student. Nathair went to one of the houses of the Reardon Manor and changed into his new armor and giving Letho enough time to collect himself.

Nathair soon returned with the armor on and the two swords strapped to his back. On the belt of the armor was a hook that he found underneath the bundle that was the armor and strapped it on. When Letho looked to his student he never felt anymore proud then when Nathair beat him in a spar. Letho walked up Nathair and straightened the armor a bit before slapping his back in approval.

"Well You have the training, your armor and weapons, I have nothing left to teach you. But I can give you some advice be careful on the path one misstep can end it all in an instant and the other is protect yourself at all times." Letho said to his student, Nathair nodded and got ready to leave.

Nathair's stuff was packed up and put on the back of his horse, he mounted up and turned to Letho as the giant of a man walked up to him. Letho looked like he wanted to sat something but couldn't bring himself to do so, so he only said good luck on The Path. Nathair nodded and rode out of the Reardon Manor compound and into the wild of Velen and into his new life as a Witcher.

Letho stood there and watched as the student he trained and raised left out on his own journey he stood there for a little while longer before going inside the manor.

"Yes, good luck on The Path my son" Letho said as he shot the doors to the manor.

**Ok guys that's all I have for you concerning the Witcher story, now I know Letho may be ooc but I get the feeling that if Letho had a student he trained and bonded with them like Geralt and Ciri did he would be a lot different then what we are use to. Ok the armor that Nathair wears is the Legendary Viper School Gear and the swords are the Legendary Viper Venomous Silver and Steel swords that are part of the Hearts and Stone Expansion of Witcher 3. The next chapter will be a time skip and a number of months passed by and my character will have changed, you'll find out how he changed next chapter and that's when he will meet Ciri. Now this is Memnon45 signing off so everyone have a good day.**

**To the guest reviewer that was wondering if I will pair Nathair with anyone besides Ciri, sorry man I won't be pairing him with anyone else this is a one pairing story, I might make another story that has multiple pairings but that's a stretch.**


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